High school is where you figure out what you like, what you might want to do forever. This is the time a select group of students gain lots of Instagram followers, come up with clever tweets, get caught skipping math class and running in the opposite direction of the math teacher, go to parties, obsess over a boy in BOTH your AP psychology class AND honors civics and economics class, steal you best friend's boyfriend, highlight the hell out of your face, neck, collarbone, and shoulders for prom, and then finally, tell your principal you love him as you aggressively shake his hand after handing you your high school diploma and then almost falling on your face at your high school graduation. This run-on isn't a true story or anything... pshhh...

There is always something going one. High school is where we get introduced to most of it. At a football game, we've got the football game itself and then the cheerleaders and then the band, and at the same time everyone is always talking and I've got no clue what to pay attention to. I've also got ADHD so maybe that's it too. Also I only attended two football games in four years. I don't know which team won each of them. Oh well.

There are all of these activities and programs, some I didn't even know about until the last month of school. If there is anything I would've done differently, it would be to join more clubs because I would like to be more well rounded.

The only things I stuck with throughout all of high school are chorus and theatre. I enjoy singing and acting more than most other activites I've attempted.

Chorus and theatre are weird. A lot of students that only take it to graduate or to look good on college applications may go in not believing that it can be difficult. Who knew that you would ACTUALLY learn something? Hmmmmm!! In chorus I learned how to read music. We sight read and sight sang. Even in my forth year of chorus I found that this is pretty difficult if you don't practice, refresh you memory on sharps, flats, and skips. A word of advice before joining chorus: if the choral department is anything like my school's is, IT IS NOT JUST SINGING SONGS! Beware, you WILL learn. Theatre class comes with the same misconception.

I learned in taking both that choral students are WAYYY different than theatre students. I've found that the majority of choral students understand the courtesy of most things. They are more reserved; there are, however, outliers which exist. These students most likely also do theatre. Theatre kids are usually loud and appreciate attention. There are outliers, however; these students are probably taking 3/4 AP classes per semester.

Now this is where I quit bashing my own people and talk about what these programs have done to make me who I am today, (literally a month into receiving my diploma). Its made me responsible. I've learned the importance of time management and being punctual. If rehearsal starts at 9:00 am on a Saturday morning, show up ON TIME or your director might bring his young daughter in with him to tell you as you walk through the door that, "rehearsal starts at 9", and not a minute later. I've also learned the significance of respect and discipline. Whether its performing at school or going on trips with the choral department or the theatre ensemble, you represent your entire group and school. Nobody wants to be embarrassed. I may or may not have learned this the hard way once or twice or seven times.

Between chorus and theatre, I gained family... to separate families though because some of them don't know each other. These two families are different in their own ways, but I love each one with every ounce of love I have. I've found and learned the value of acceptance as we all work and struggle together. I've not found a group I can open up to and be my whole self around as I can in chorus and in theatre. My voice will crack during a graded solo and I'd still have support from all of chorus with their applause. I could forget an entire monologue and start randomly yelling, "hello, helLO, hELLO, HELLO?!" into an imaginary telephone followed by a, "yeah I forgot the rest of this monologue. Scene." and have the entire theatre class laugh at me. (Its called love). These are true stories (but I did keep character throughout the entire performance which happened to be a project grade).

What you may have learned from this is that I might not have been the best high school student, but I did do the things I am passionate about throughout my four years. I am unaware of what college will bring to me but I pray I'll be able to report back after graduating.